an architect who loves to sew

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ayuthaya trip/sheerful pa-kao-ma

Last Saturday we made a one day trip to Ayutthaya (old city of Thailand, Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767)It is in theUnesco World Heritage list. Only one hour drive from Bangkok. Last year Ayutthaya faced disaster from big flood, therefor this year some of historical places closed for renovation but since they mostly on open ground we can still observing from a distance. Not many tourist around as usual might be from this reason but it made an impressive visit for us. Green lawn surround each historical place. Despite the unusual November heat it was a perfect trip.

We start our trip at the reclaim wood shop name “Nam Fon” got recommended by our good friend, one of the best contractor (Thai Obayashi). The place was impressive tons of reclaimed wood, well organize. We are surveying possibility of using reclaimed wood for our house renovation next year, in term of cost and availability. Positive result.

We then drive around to couple of historical sites start with Portuguese Village, Wat Puttaisawan and Wat Chaiwattanaram Have lunch break along Chao praya river in the old city island, most ordered is yummy grilled prawn. Continue with Chankrasem Palace Museum. The palace is for King Rama 4 of Rattanakosin period(after Ayutthaya Era) We really enjoy the pieceful moment in the museum, seeing old beautiful chases dated back to Ayutthaya Era. I have seen ruin, Buddha images from Ayutthaya Era but never thought of seeing perfect wood work from that period. Flood still leaves marks in many areas especially number of tourist. There are much more historical places to visit, will come back soon. Another museum is Chao Sam Phraya National Museum – Ayutthaya

We end our trip with Bangsai Art and Crafts Center, supported by her majesty Queen Sirikit. There are art workshops for many kind of crafts, the center developing skills for farmers, disables. You can see how they work weaving, ceramic silver works and much more. It was too late for us to see but not too late for shopping. I was struck by bright color Pa-Kao- Ma(Thai men sarong)which normally come in more masculine tone, I did end up buy 5 pieces with hope to turn them into my weekend out-fits. Pa-Kao-Ma is all purpose piece of fabric, size around 30 inches by 72 inches. It is mostly home made woven cotton.I took all Ayuthaya photos by my mobile(from poor quality you can tell it is not an iPhone), we totally forget to bring our camera. I have an interest in Thai color pallet and would like to document it. Will share more in the future.